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For women in the United States who remain sexually active beyond child-bearing years, susceptibility to HIV infection remains, yet condom use is low. We assessed acceptability of the dapivirine vaginal ring (ring) among 96 postmenopausal US women enrolled in a placebo-controlled multisite phase II trial of the ring, using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Three quarters of women reported "perfect" adherence (ring never out) over the 3-month trial period. At study exit, the ring was found to be very easy to use by 72%, very comfortable to wear by 65%, and 4% reported it ever interfered with their daily activities. The most common worries among participants at preinitiation had decreased significantly at study exit (e.g., worries about inserting the ring declined from 46% to 6%, discomfort during daily activities from 53% to 3%, ring not staying in place from 48% to 14%, all p < 0.0001). Despite some couples feeling the ring during sex, the ring was perceived as more suitable than condoms for prevention because it was not burdensome to use, did not interfere with erection, and provided (for some) additional vaginal lubrication. The ring is a promising, highly acceptable HIV prevention method that is suitable to the lives of postmenopausal women and their male partners and can provide them with an additional prevention choice. Clinical Trials Registration: NCT02010593. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions whether or not the new Clinton administration can reduce defense-related R&D and devote nearly $12.6 billion for civilian science and technology projects, a revolution from the days when government left industry to itself and education to the school boards. Repeated promises of President Bill Clinton and Vice President Albert Gore to change the landscape of US research; Basis of Clinton's R&D program; Reaffirming government commitment to basic science; Conversion; Hazards.

The article reports on developments related to the Federation of American Scientists (FAS). The atomic affairs remained high in priority during 1950. It was the year of the announced attempt to build the bomb. The passage of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Act of 1950, culminated nearly five years of effort by scientists and their organizations. NSF has been a major item in FAS activities. The FAS Committee on Aid to Foreign Science, staffed by the Rochester chapter, aided advanced students from abroad in obtaining fellowship and assistantships in American universities.

The article presents information on the problems faced by the students and parents in getting admission in colleges in the U.S. It informs that the usual admission procedure presents problems for the applicants as well as the colleges. It further informs that a procedure for assigning applicants to colleges which should be satisfactory to both groups, which removes all uncertainties is required.

Background: Publication bias compromises the validity of evidence-based medicine, yet a growing body of research shows that this problem is widespread. Efficacy data from drug regulatory agencies, e.g., the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), can serve as a benchmark or control against which data in journal articles can be checked. Thus one may determine whether publication bias is present and quantify the extent to which it inflates apparent drug efficacy. Methods and Findings: FDA Drug Approval Packages for eight second-generation antipsychotics-aripiprazole, iloperidone, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone, risperidone long-acting injection (risperidone LAI), and ziprasidone-were used to identify a cohort of 24 FDA-registered premarketing trials. The results of these trials according to the FDA were compared with the results conveyed in corresponding journal articles. The relationship between study outcome and publication status was examined, and effect sizes derived from the two data sources were compared. Among the 24 FDA-registered trials, four (17%) were unpublished. Of these, three failed to show that the study drug had a statistical advantage over placebo, and one showed the study drug was statistically inferior to the active comparator. Among the 20 published trials, the five that were not positive, according to the FDA, showed some evidence of outcome reporting bias. However, the association between trial outcome and publication status did not reach statistical significance. Further, the apparent increase in the effect size point estimate due to publication bias was modest (8%) and not statistically significant. On the other hand, the effect size for unpublished trials (0.23, 95% confidence interval 0.07 to 0.39) was less than half that for the published trials (0.47, 95% confidence interval 0.40 to 0.54), a difference that was significant. Conclusions: The magnitude of publication bias found for antipsychotics was less than that found previously for antidepressants, possibly because antipsychotics demonstrate superiority to placebo more consistently. Without increased access to regulatory agency data, publication bias will continue to blur distinctions between effective and ineffective drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Glaciated alpine landscapes are sensitive to changes in climate. Shifts in temperature and precipitation can cause significant changes to glacier size and terminus position, the production and delivery of organic mass, and in the hydrologic energy related to the transport of water and sediment through proglacial environments. A sediment core representing a 12,900-yr record collected from Swiftcurrent Lake, located on the eastern side of Glacier National Park, Montana, was analyzed to assess variability in Holocene and latest Pleistocene environment. The spectral signature of total organic carbon content (%TOC) since ~7.6ka matches that of solar forcing over 70–500yr timescales. Periodic inputs of dolomite to the lake reflect an increased footprint of Grinnell Glacier, and occur during periods when sediment sinks are reduced, glacial erosion is increased, and hydrologic energy is increased. Grain size, carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios, and %TOC broadly define the termination of the Younger Dryas chronozone at Swiftcurrent Lake, as well as major Holocene climate transitions. Variability in core parameters is linked to other records of temperature and aridity in the northern Rocky Mountains over the late Pleistocene and Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-driven variations in lake-groundwater exchange are recorded by sediments in groundwaterdominated lakes. A groundwater flow-through lake in west-central Montana (USA) registers latest Pleistocene and Holocene hydroclimatic variation in fluid and solute balance, as controlled by rates and timing of groundwater recharge. Early Holocene warming occurred under conditions of relative aridity and low groundwater throughflow, punctuated by a c. 450-yr episode of lake dilution centered on 11 000 cal. yr BP. Maximum evaporative concentration of lake waters, registered in both δ18O values and mineralogy of endogenic carbonates, coincided with the early-Holocene peak in insolation seasonality at about 9750 cal. yr BP. Subsequently, progressively decreasing lake residence time drove a sustained long-term decline in salinity while having a very subdued effect on mean δ18O values. We explain this decoupling by (1) limits placed on oxygen isotope sensitivity by groundwater throughflow, and (2) a shift toward greater summer rain contribution to lake inflow after mid-Holocene time. Superimposed multidecadal- and century-scale variation in lake-groundwater exchange generated high-frequency but low-amplitude isotopic oscillations throughout the record. High rates of groundwater throughflow maintaining low lake salinity similar to that observed today were established around 1400 cal. yr BP. We infer reduced regional stream baseflow, decrease in permanent wetlands (relative increase in ephemeral wetlands) and enhanced lake and wetland salinity prior to this time, relative to the late Holocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the AD 1990s the Waubay Lakes complex in eastern South Dakota experienced historically unprecedented high water levels. Property damage from this flooding led to an examination of the occurrence of past pluvial episodes and their relation to climate. A 1000-year hydroclimate reconstruction was developed from local bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) tree-ring records and lake-sediment cores. Analysis of lake shoreline and drainage features provides late-Quaternary geomorphic context for this high-resolution record. Tree-ring width and shell geochemistry of the ostracode Candona rawsoni show marked coherence, indicating synchronous responses to moisture balance in vegetation and lake salinity; geomorphic evidence suggests buffering of lake-system expansion during pluvial periods by evaporative dynamics. Pluvial periods display a recurrence frequency of approximately 140–160 years over the past millennium. Prior to AD 1800, both lake highstands and droughts tended towards greater persistence than during the past two centuries. Frequency and timing of hydroclimatic oscillations show strong similarities to records from other sites in the Northern Great Plains (NGP) of North and South Dakota, and incomplete coherence with records of southern Manitoba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the use and accordance with technical standards of the 1995 to 1996 Portfolio Assessment in Dallas, Texas. Promotion of academic standards for students; Significance of Portfolio Assessment in the improvement of instruction and learning; Context of the Portfolio Assessment system; Provision of quality information on student achievement.

The article discusses how media handles national security issues in United States. The author illustrates how media treat such stories by citing two cases, one from newspaper and one from television. The first case, which became a venue of public opinion in and out of the country was the neutron bomb story raised by the "Washington Post" in June 1977. The second case involves "The Defense of United States," a CBS television series which reviewed the U.S. defense policy shown in June 1981.

Focuses on a study on child nutrition based on the condition of deciduous teeth in the U.S. Statistical analysis on the incidence of defective deciduous teeth; Causes of defective deciduous teeth.

Explores the role of science in the U. S. economy. Information on Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineer Vannevar Bush's 1945 report "Science -- The Endless Frontier"; Example wherein support of basic research alone does not help economic prosperity; Reason politicians' and economists' effort to renew U. S. technology and assure economic competitiveness for the rest of the century will fail.

The article presents an editorial concerning the ratification of the SALT II Treaty following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The author states that two elements are necessary for ratification. She believes that a Soviet commitment to the Treaty, both by words and actions will raise Washington's confidence. She also calls for the formation of a U.S. political coalition of Congressmen, lobby groups, and voters to argue for the Treaty and enforce a tougher attitude toward the Soviets.

The importance of transportation infrastructure to health outcomes has been increasingly recognized. However, the relationship between transportation and health is underexplored in rural areas. This study fills the gap by investigating rural health outcomes in association with two transportation infrastructures—highways and airports—in the Black Belt counties of the USA, a region characterized as predominantly rural and black and as having high poverty and unemployment. Spatial regression models are applied to analyze the 2010 data. The results suggest Black Belt counties have poorer health outcomes than their non–Black Belt counterparts, and the difference increases as the percentage of blacks increases. The results also show that the higher accessibility to an airport a county has, the better its health outcomes. Highways, however, do not have a statistically significant association with health outcomes. The poor health outcomes in the Black Belt counties are also influenced by poverty, rurality, unemployment, and low educational attainment. This research was the first to study transportation, especially airports, in the rural US South with relation to health outcomes. Our findings shed new light on removing the health disadvantages accumulated in the Black Belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]